Before enlightenment, chopping wood and carrying water. After enlightenment, chopping wood and carrying water.
MATSUO BASHOBefore enlightenment, chopping wood and carrying water. After enlightenment, chopping wood and carrying water.
MATSUO BASHOAll my friends / viewing the moon – / an ugly bunch.
MATSUO BASHOThe oak tree: not interested in cherry blossoms.
MATSUO BASHOHow I long to see among dawn flowers, the face of God.
MATSUO BASHOThe universe and its beings are a complementarity of empty infinity, intimate interrelationships, and total uniqueness of each and every being.
MATSUO BASHOThe haiku that reveals seventy to eighty percent of its subject is good. Those that reveal fifty to sixty percent, we never tire of.
MATSUO BASHOLearn how to listen as things speak for themselves.
MATSUO BASHOYear by year, the monkey’s mask reveals the monkey.
MATSUO BASHOSitting quietly, doing nothing, Spring comes, and the grass grows, by itself.
MATSUO BASHOThe moon and sun are travelers through eternity. Even the years wander on. Whether drifting through life on a boat or climbing toward old age leading a horse, each day is a journey, and the journey itself is home.
MATSUO BASHOTraveler’s heart. Never settled long in one place. Like a portable fire.
MATSUO BASHOCollecting all The rains of May The swift Mogami River.
MATSUO BASHOA thicket of summer grass / Is all that remains / Of the dreams of ancient warriors.
MATSUO BASHOAround existence twine, (Oh, bridge that hangs across the gorge!) ropes of twisted vine.
MATSUO BASHOApril’s air stirs in Willow-leaves, a butterfly Floats and balances.
MATSUO BASHOSpring rain leaking through the roof dripping from the wasps’ nest.
MATSUO BASHO